As my endeavours into the DSLR world continues to grow, my first push into having multiple lenses for my Nikon D90 grew over Christmas when Rebecca got me a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8d. It’s certainly an adjustment to have this in my arsenal, and I’m doing my best to get a good feel for it, even if it means being annoying to anyone within a shutter click.
Hope everyone had a great holiday season! I know I did. 🙂
As mentioned in my previous post, this year’s BarCampVancouver had a morning photowalk where we ventured out around this year’s venue to explore the area through a lens. There was probably twenty of us wandering around mostly empty, over grown property next to the rail yard near Main and Terminal.
Here’s a selection of my favorite shots that I took on the photowalk (all my photos from BarCampVancouver09 are here).
Peter has a good shot of me taking this photo.
What’s fun about going on photowalks like this, at least that I’m discovering, is when in the company of fellow Nikon owners, you get the opportunity to try out different lenses to at least experiment with other components that I could get for my D90. For example, the final shot above was wide-angle lens of Peter’s that he let me borrow about half-way through the photowalk. It really gives you a good idea of how something works and feels before you consider purchasing said gear.
But it doesn’t matter about what lens you have. Jordan always looks sharp.
The biggest element that I get from photowalks like this is just learning my camera. It’s how I learned the ins and outs of my Canon S5 IS, and the Nikon D90 is no exception. I’m refining what I already know to get a better grasp on pushing my photography, but when you’re around people like this who know even more, you are constantly learning. The conversations are incredibly geeky at some points, but understanding terms, sharing concepts, and having someone grab your camera to show you some setting that you didn’t know existed is invaluable. It’s a true testament of only getting better by simply giving it shot.
Actually, in photowalking terms, you give it about 500 shots in hopes that you come up with a handful of good ones.
Continue reading “Photos from the BarCampVancouver09 Photowalk”
In light of my recent birthday, I got an upgrade on my camera as a slight early gift. I’ve had my eye on the Nikon D90[wiki] for a matter of months now, but the push of going into the DSLR side of photography is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. As I said to Rebecca the other day, I’m back in the remedial class in terms of what I know, what I think I know, and what I don’t know. The last statement is vast, but I’m already in good company.
(The wise) John Biehler told me that once I got the model of camera that I wanted, there would be a lot of opportunity to meet plenty of other like minded folks who were eager to share their knowledge and insight on gear, techniques, and everything else you get yourself into when you make this kind of upgrade.
So just a matter of days after my purchase (of which Rebecca was in near constant contact with John via SMS), we had a birthday gathering at our place last Friday night, inviting John, Peter[flickr], and their collection of lenses and flashes for me to try out and get a feel for.
Still being a newbie, I’ll post a few of my favorite shots from the night with no edits or crops. Going through my own sense of discovery with this amazing apparatus and what it can possibly do. Click any thumbnail to see the full image.
Really liking the camera so far. I’m not sure how long it will take for me to get into purchasing extra lenses for it, but these trials have me gunning for a 50mm f1.4 lens, which many of the shots above are with. My only other goal with lenses would be to shoot some more concerts with. It’ll also be great for many photos that I’m sure you’ll be seeing on miss604.com, starting with a recent post where I shot George Stroumboulopoulos chatting with Rebecca.
Just for kicks, this was my favorite shot I took from that interview.
